Guard for telegraph and telephone wires.



G. J. ELLIOTT.

GUARD FOR TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WIRES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 190a 928,431.- I Patented Julyzo, 1909.

CHARLES J. ELLIOTT, OF OXNARD, CALIFORNIA.

GUARD FOR TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WIRES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 1909.

Application 'filed June 4, 1908. Serial No. 436,693.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES J. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oxnard, in the county of Ventura and State of California,have invented a new and useful Guard for Telegraph and Telephone Wires,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device adapted to be applied to poles orsupports for wires carrying a high tension current at places where suchhigh tension wires are strung in the air above and across telegraph ortelephone wires, as, for example, along the v line of a railway or infact any telegraph or telephone line or any railway, roadway, orbuilding which would be damaged or rendered unsafe if the high tensionwires above them were to break and fall upon them, the object of theinvention being to prevent such damage to the telegraph or telephonewires by means which will sever that section of the broken wire from itsline so that it will fall to the ground and thus not hang in the airfrom its unbroken end where it would be apt to dangle against or lieupon the telephone or telegraph wires.

The means which I provide for severing a section of the broken wirecomprises a guard which is in connection with the ground and againstwhich guard the broken wire must strike and upon such wire striking theguard the arcing which will occur between the wire and guard will burnthe wire through at said point where the wire strikes the guard, andthus detach the section of broken Wire which had extended across abovethe telephone or telegraph wires the section thus severed being allowedto fall to the ground and as no current passes through it after it issevered it causes no damage.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention and referring theretoFigure 1 is a perspective view of a line of railway which is paralleledby a telegraph or telephone line and illustrating the same, overheadhigh tension wires which are strung across the railway above thetelegraph and telephone wires, the posts supporting the high tensionwires being equipped with the guards form ing the invention. Fig. 2 isan enlarged perspective view of a pole and support for the high tensionwires showing the guard as applied thereto and connected with ground anintermediate portion of the pole being broken away to contract the view.Fig. 3

is an enlarged side elevation of a portion of the pole which carries theguard and shows the construction and relative arrangement of'the guardand high tension wires. Fig. 4 is a front elevation showing anotherguard attached to the upper guard for supporting a lower set of wires.

1 designates a line of railway which is paralleled by telegraph wires 2carried on poles 3. Obviously the wires 2 need not necessarily be wireswhich extend along the side of a railway as they might be telephone ortelegraph wires which extend along a thoroughfare or even in outlyingdistricts.

4 designates a set of wires carrying a high tension current which Wiresare supported in the usual manner by insulators 5 on arms 6 fixed to thepoles 7, the wires 4 lying above and extending across the line of wires2. It is preferable to provide each pole 7 with a guard.

The guard comprises a rectangular frame having a lower horizontal rod 8and an upper horizontal rod 9 which are united by vertical rods 10. Thisframe as well as its supports may be easily constructed of gas pipewhich will afford a stiff and rigid frame work of low cost and thevarious parts may be readily joined together by such connections as areusually employed in securing the joints of gas pipe. For example, thevertical rods 10 are secured at their lower ends by tees 11 to the rod 8and are secured at their upper ends by elbows 11 to rod 9. The upper rod9 is formed in two sections united near the center by a union 12 whichenables the upper part of the frame to be opened for a purpose to bedescribed. The rectangular frame is supported in such a manner that thehigh tension Wires 4 pass through it Without coming in contact with itthe frame being of sufficient size to permit the sag in wires 4 and anyswinging motion which they may have without allowing them to come incontact with the frame while they are unbroken. The frame is supportedby two upper rods 13 which are connected by tees 14 with the upper endsof the respective vertical rods 10, the other ends of rods 13 beingsecured by sogket connections 15 to the upper end of the po e 7. g withthe center of rod 8 and at its other end is secured by a socketconnection 18 with the upper end of pole 7. A vertical rod a extendsupfrom the tee 17 and its upper end has a saddle l) which supports theupper rod A rod 16 is connected by a tee 17 V cured by nuts as shown inFig. 3.

1 lie in moist earth so that a good connection is established with theground. A conduit 26 incloses the upper portion of rod 241 and part ofthe cable 23 for several feet above the ground so that persons areprotected from it if it should be charged as will be described. A pairof rods 27 are connected by tees 28 with the rod 8 and their rear endspass through socket connections 29 at the respective ends of the crossarms 6, and are se- The memhere or bars 13, 19 and 27 constitute abracket or supporting means for holding the conducting frame 9 away fromthe pole, this.

supporting means or bracket extending lengthwise of the wires 4 and incase of two poles on opposite sides of the way to be protected saidbrackets or supporting means extend from each pole toward the otherpole. The object of this outward suspension of the directing frame is toinsure the contact of the wire 41 with said frame, it being obvious thatthe farther the frame is supported away from the pole the less the wirewill have to bend to make the grounding contact.

The object of the union 12 is to enable the two sections of the rod 9 tobe swung out to permit the guard, with its attached supporting rods, tobe moved up from below and secured in place without disturbing the wiresalready attached to the cross arm, then the sections of rod 9 may beclosed above the wires.

If one of the high tension wires 4 should break, say, for example, nearone of the in sulators, its first movement would be an upward andbackward snap or whipping action due to the reaction on account of itstension which upward swing might possibly cause it to strike the upperrod 9 whereupon the poor contact with frame 9, which latter is inconnection with the ground would cause arcing to occur which wouldalmost immediately sever the copper wire 41 and the severed sectionwould drop to the ground. If in its upward swing the wire did not swinghigh enough to touch the upper rod 9 its next movement would be downwardand before the free end of the broken wire would reach the ground itsportion near the opposite guard would strike the lower rod 8, whereuponthe arcing will occur and the copper wire be immediately burned through,whereupon the section would fall to the ground. Thus when a high tensionwire breaks it is bound to strike some one of the A cable 23 extends;merely the brace rods 16 and 19 guards are in metallic connection.

rods of the guard, as the guard completely sur rounds it and thereforeit is sure to be severed so that the telegraph or telephone Wires whichare underneath will not be injured by the high tension wire. In additionto saving the telephone or telegraph wires it is apparent that danger topersons is eliminated, for without'the guard the broken wire would hangdown and persons touching it would be killed or seriously injured. Withmy invention, however, the wire is severed. before it can drop farenough to injure any one, and as the severed wire carries no current itis harmless.

It will be understood that the term high tension is herein used todefine any wire which carries a current such as electric lighting orpower current whose voltage is such as to render it dangerous to life orproperty in case of contact, in distinction from telegraph, andtelephone wires and is not limited. to the stricter sense of the termhigh ten sion.

At the time the broken wire strikes the guard, the circuit breaker inthe line opens so that the line becomes dead, otherwise, without myinvention, if the broken wire should strike a telegraph wire thetelegraph wire would become highly charged and would injure telegraphoperators at the key. The circuit breaker referred to is the one at thenearest source of supply. Thus in case of a break in a line supplied bya transformer at a sub-station, the circuit breaker at the transformerwill act, while in the case of a break in a main line from a powerhouse,the circuit breaker at the powerhouse will operate. Another advantage ofthe invention is that it does not prevent other wires being attached tothe pole. If one or more cross arms are subsequently added to the poletosupport additional sets of wires, a guard may be put on for each setso added.

Fig. 4 shows the pole equipped with a lower cross arm 35 supportinglower wires 31. A lower guard comprising a horizontal rod 32 isconnected to tees 11 by rods 33. The rod 32 is braced from the pole by acenter rod 16 and its lower corners are supported from the pole bybraces 19. Thus the lower wires are inclosed by lower rod 8 of the upperguard. and by the lower rod 32 and rods 33 of the lower guard. The tees11 thus enable as many additional. guards as desired to be attached inorder, one under the other by connecting to the tees 11 and using theguards are thus arranged in multiple the cable 23 is lowered to connectwith the lowermost plate 22' and when thus connected is in electricalconnection with the entire metal framework of the guards as the Shouldone of the lower wires break the section is When I severed by the lowerguard or by the lower rod 8 of the upper guard.

What I claim is- 1. The combination with a wire for supplying electriccurrent, and a supporting pole for supporting said wire, of a guardframe surrounding said Wire and means at tached to the pole andextending from the pole lengthwise of the wire, and supporting saidguard frame in position away from the pole, said guard frame consistingof a conductor and being grounded.

2. The combination with a wire for su lying electric current, and asupporting po e or supporting said wire, of a guard frame surroundingsaid wire and means attached to the pole and extending from the polelengthwise of the wire, and supporting said guard frame in position awayfrom the pole, said guard frame consisting of a conductor and beinggrounded, and a portion of said frame being movable to enable insertionof the wire.

3. In combination with the pole and cross arm supporting high tensionwires, a metallic frame through which the high tension wires are adaptedto pass, rods extending from the to of said pole to the upper corners ofsaid frame, rods extending from the lower corners of said frame to apoint on said pole below the cross arm, rods extending from the lowercorner of said frame to the ends of said cross arm, a rod extending fromthe lower bar of said frame to the upper end of said pole, and meanselectrically con necting said frame with ground.

4. In combination with the pole and cross arm supporting high tensionwires, a metallic frame through which the high tension wires are adaptedto pass, rods extending from the top of said pole to the upper cornersof said frame, rods extending from the lower corners of said frame to apoint on said pole below the cross arm, rods extending from the lowercorner of said frame to the ends of said cross arm, a rod extending fromthe lower bar of said frame to the upper end of said pole, meanselectrically connecting said frame with ground, and a rod extending upfrom the lower rod of said frame and having a saddle which supports theupper rod of said frame.

5. In combination with a high tension wire, a device of the characterdescribed comprising a metallic frame through which the high tensionwire normally extends with out contact therewith, said frame havingelectrical connection with ground and adapted to cause severing of thehigh tension wire when the latter breaks and comes in contact with saidframe, and tees in the lower corners of said frame forming means forattaching a second frame below the first frame.

6. In combination with a high tension wire, a device of the characterdescribed comprising a metallic frame through which the high tensionwires pass, tees in the lower corners of said frame, another framethrough which another set of high tension wires pass comprising ahorizontal rod and vertical rods connecting the same with said tees,braces supporting the second frame, and a cable connected with the lowerframe and grounded.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles,California, this 28th day of May 1908.

" CHARLES J. ELLIOTT.

In presence of- G. T. HAoKLEY, FRANK L. A. GRAHAM.

